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AndyA (1000+ posts) Wed Sep-17-08 08:01 PM
Original message
I totally went off on two Republican women in a restaurant today.
Advertisements [?]I had dental work done today, so I don't exactly feel wonderful, and while standing in line at a restaurant to take out food, two women in line behind me were talking about how scary things were with the economy right now. One commented she had never seen a time when things were worse.

Then the other said that John McCain mentioned that Barack Obama's statement that he might delay his tax increases was just proof of how damaging Obama's tax hike would be to the economy.

That's when I let loose.

I turned around and told them that they probably didn't like McCain's tax hike plan, either. They said he was going to lower taxes, and I told them, NO, he is going to start making people pay taxes on any health benefits they receive from their employer. And I told them to check it out for themselves if they didn't believe me.

Then I told them that McCain couldn't be trusted because of his involvement with the savings and loan scandal. I told them to look up info on the "Keating Five." Then I mentioned how McCain used his office to cover up his wife's misuse of regulated drugs, which she was stealing from her charity that she set up as a cover to hide her abuse.

The women were shocked. I told them they wouldn't hear about this on the news, because the conservative owners of the media in this country had been covering up for Republicans for decades, and that there is no such thing as the liberal media. It's all a fallacy.

I could tell they didn't believe me, so I asked them to name a liberal television anchor, radio host, etc., and they both named Olbermann. One of them also said Rachel, but I can't remember her last name.

Then I asked them if they knew of any others. They didn't. So then I said, in contrast to the two liberals we know of, there's Rush, Sean, Dr. Laura, Glen Beck, Tucker Carlson, Joe, etc., who are all conservative. Then I asked them how was it that the liberal media had so few liberal hosts, and an overwhelming number of conservative hosts. They had no answer for that one.

I told them they should research on their own instead of believing what they heard on the news, because it was propaganda and that the media's corporate ownership benefited more from Republicans in office than Democrats.

I left by telling them that the deregulation policies of the Republican Party, going back decades, were responsible for what we're seeing today, and that if McCain was elected it would be four more years of the same thing we're seeing now. Then I reminded them that on Monday McCain was telling us all that the fundamentals of the economy were OK, and that when someone finally told him they weren't, he changed his story. Just like he did about offshore drilling, and all the other things he's flip flopped on.

And I reminded them that his VP nominee is a documented liar, and that she continues to lie to our faces, even though it's been widely published that she's lying.

In the line several people back was a girl who was nodding her head in agreement, and one of the guys behind the counter said he agreed with me.

I don't know if it did any good, but it made me feel better. I'm so sick of Republicans!

One and half bongs. The women didn't slink away in shame or have a on the spot conversion to Obamaism. Try harder next time.

Bonus time. A suicide mole run. :)

bikoman (10 posts) Wed Sep-17-08 11:38 PM
Response to Original message
33. The economy today is the Dems fault
Edited on Wed Sep-17-08 11:50 PM by bikoman
>I left by telling them that the deregulation policies of the Republican Party, going back decades, were responsible for what we're seeing today, and that if McCain was elected it would be four more years of the same thing we're seeing now. <

Bush introduced a bill in 2003 to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of loose lending and mismanaged accounting practices reported here in the NY Times:

McCain cosponsored the bill which was killed in committe by the ranking Banking Committe member Chris Dodd who was getting preferential loans from Countrywide at the same time. Dodd was the #1 recipient of campaign contributions from Frannie and Freddie and Obama was #2 taking hundreds of thousands. Frank Raines the former CEO of Frannie is an Obama advisor. The bill was also opposed by Barney Frank who feared that Republican oversight would reduce the availability of affordable housing for low-income families.

This is ground zero for today’s housing/credit crisis that’s causing the meltdown in the stock market, the economic recession and creating mass layoffs. I know dems don't want to acknowledge this but these are all facts that can be verified. Look it up.

XOKCowboy (1000+ posts) Thu Sep-18-08 07:30 AM
Response to Reply #33
42. I see no facts in your post
If you know this to be the gospel truth then prove it. While you're at it explain why for the last 8 years all we've heard from Republicans was deregulate and privatize everything. What we're seeing now is the result of that policy. You can try to pin this on the Democrats but you guys have had the White House for the last 8 year and the Congress for the 6 of the last 8 years. This is YOUR crisis and everybody knows it.

Fact: Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac gave loan guarantees to Countrywide and other lenders to provide low-income housing in impoverished areas which historically vote democrat.

Fact: Fanny Mae CEO Frank Rains pay was based on profits - he was paid over $90M while CEO.

Fact: Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were out of control providing easy money through questionable loan purchases and making guarantees on bad loans from Countrywide and Washington Mutual and other lenders without regard to risk. Since Fanny and Freddy were willing and able to buy these stinky loans it enabled and encouraged the mortgage industry to take more risk and sell more and more creative loan packages to uneducated borrowers and speculators.

Fact: Bush and Republicans introduce bill in 2003 to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and mandate federal governence and oversight.

Fact: This bill was opposed by Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and other democrats who feared a reduction in low-income housing loans to their constituency. From the NY Times article:

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Fact: The bill never got out of the Banking Committee as it was killed by the ranking member Chris Dodd in 2005.

Fact: Chris Dodd and Obama were #1 and #2 recipients of campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddy to the tune of 100’s of thousands.

bikoman (10 posts) Thu Sep-18-08 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #60
64. more facts
Fact: When a bill is introduced in the Senate it may be referred to a committee where they can approve it, they can modify it, and send it back to the chamber it came from, they can sit on it and kill it with inaction. This one was killed by the Chairman of the Senate banking Committeee Chris Dodd.

Fact: Chris Dodd recieved preferential loans for Countrywide Financial during the period when this bill was in committee.

JoeIsOneOfUs (1000+ posts) Thu Sep-18-08 12:49 PM
Response to Reply #64
65. Who was chair of that Cmte in 2003 (the date you cited above) - NOT a Dem. nt

bikoman (10 posts) Thu Sep-18-08 01:27 PM
Response to Reply #65
71. what killed it
Edited on Thu Sep-18-08 01:38 PM by bikoman
Correct - what killed the bill was the insistence by the democrats to set aside 5% of Fanny Mae's portfolio for affordable low-income housing - a provision that would be subsidized by the profits of Fanny Mae. This was unacceptable to Republicans who claimed a siphoning of profits would create an unsound business model. By this disagreement the committee was unable to come to a consensus. It was a bi-partisan failure to pass a Republican sponsored bill - politics as usual. Democrats and Republicans are unwilling to allow the other party claim credit for good, effective legislation unless it's weighed down with earmarks and amendments to benefit the constituency of their respective party. An the fact that Chris Dodd was a member of the Banking Committee at the time and the ranking democrat, who was recieving preferential loans from Countrywide, and was the #1 recipient of campaign contributions from Franny and Freddy didn't help create an atmosphere of common purpose.

The point is that McCain was a cosponsor of this bill and warned of economic disaster if no action was taken. The democrats focused on a small percentage of their constituency and decided that affordable low-income housing was more important than the big picture which you can see happening now before your eyes - a financial meltdown, recession and massive unemployment which effects all Americans.

verges (561 posts) Thu Sep-18-08 02:58 PM
Response to Reply #57
81. Back it up.
Provide links.
Provide evidence.
We need more than just your word on it.
That's the way things work around here. You have to prove statements.

AZBlue (1000+ posts) Thu Sep-18-08 04:38 PM
Response to Original message
107. I went off on a couple in the grocery store last week.
The woman picked up a copy of a magazine (can't remember which one) that had a picture of Palin on it and the headline, "What's She Hiding?" She repeated the headline, tilted the magazine cover toward me and laughed a little, so I figured she was no Palin fan. I responded, "With her? Quite a lot, I'm sure."

To my surprise she answered, "Oh no, not her. She's such a straight-shooter!"

To which I couldn't hold back: "Well, I'm sure she and McCain would like to hide the fact that she billed her state for 312 nights when she didn't travel any more than from her home to her office. And I'm sure they'd like to hide the fact that she abused her power repeatedly as mayor and then as governor. And they'd probably like to hide her support of aerial shooting of wolves, a practice 99% of hunters would like to see outlawed. And they probably don't want you to know that she actually did support the bridge to nowhere and is lying when she says she didn't. And that's just for starters."

Their jaws dropped and I went on with my shopping, feeling pretty satisfied.

Hestia (516 posts) Thu Sep-18-08 05:00 PM
Response to Original message
114. I just went off on somebody here at work too - he's been trying to get me to rent his house
a dump, and have been telling him no thanks, but he still drops by to say hi. I was watching the stream of Obama in NM, and this guy says, man the country will be totally off track if Obama gets elected. I practically shouted "HOW?" He said the military will stand down if he is elected and Obama will totally desert them... I said since the repug's have totally trashed this country, what we need is a 180, not more of the same; a totally different direction!!! He backed out of the door and said bye!

Man, I have started really correcting everybody, I don't care where I am! Enough of the nonsense!

WatchWhatISay (1000+ posts) Thu Sep-18-08 06:19 PM
Response to Original message
125. I had a little tiff of my own today with one of those knuckledraggers
Ike burned out our refrigerator thermostat, so we had a repairman in to fix it. I was watching Obama speak while he was fixing it. We'd had an earlier conversation about Italian ovens, which he advised against, so my husband and I figured he was probably a redneck, judging by his comments. When he went outside to get a part, my husband asked me to not get into politics, and I said I had no intention of it based on his attitude - it probably wouldn't do any good.

But then he said he didn't know why I was wasting my time listening to the stuff on TV (Obama's speech), I said "Why, don't you like Obama?". He said no, and then started off on some right wing rant right out of Limbaughland. I interrupted him and said, "Well, then you just need to keep it to yourself", but he didn't. So I repeated myself loudly and firmly. Finally he shut up, and I said "We dont have to put up with that sort of crap anymore."
After he left I realized that he surely saw my Obama poster on the refrigerator door, and he must have known better. I really felt invaded and offended to have someone spouting that crap off in my own kitchen. That's the last time I call that company.

Geeeezzz! Not a good one in there at all. They dont care about quality anymore, its quantity that counts with them.
They get thier news from the DUmp, so all they see is Repugs getting slammed or converted! :D

I need to start going to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or wherever these freaks hang out.

Not only do I not have first-person bouncy experience, I don't have second or third hand bouncy experience. I feel like something's missing in my life. :D

They are out there for sure, I never encountered one by accident. BUT, I have a good friend named Tennessee (loves the vols) who can recite every DUmp / Lib meme! It drives all of the rest of us nuts. Aside from politics he is a good guy, but mention Bush and it over, he goes nuts - BDS!

A similar incident happened to me about the first week in Sept..
I was at my favorite cafe one morning, discussing my latest op-ed with some friends and my daughter who was visiting from L.A.. There were 6 biker dudes in a booth beside us. My kid was reading my op-ed out loud-"I especially like this part pops." She said, "According to a few right-wing talking heads, she was put on the ticket in hopes of getting the Hillary votes, the only thing she has in common with Hillary is a VAGINA. In my opinion she is on the ticket for distractions only, and will probably resign just before the elections. But before she could finish reading the rest of my article, a biker dude jumped up and said as loud as he could--"All my people will vote for McCain because he is a maverick and a bona-fide hero." He ranted on for about 10 minutes with his buddies cheering also; one of the bikers was notably silent and the big guy said. "what do you have to say Johnny?" He replied, "as you all know I'm a rascist therefore I would vote against a black person all the time." Everyone in the cafe began booing these bikers.
Finally i stood up and said, "let these dudes alone this is still a free country." then i asked the big guy this, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you watch fox news and uour favorites are insanity Hannity and Bill O'Liely." He sheepishly nodded yes, and I continued to explain the facts about John McCain's voting record his self-avowed heroism.
All these bikers were riding Harleys, and I wish I had excerpts from Obama's scathing speech when he tore into McCain's record on free trade, when John was a senator.
I may have convinced five of these bikers to research their hero a bit more.